Runners at a 10k trail race in Glasgow were sent in the wrong direction by a prankster who impersonated a marshal and buried signs marking the course. Acorn Trails said someone moved a route arrow and impersonated a race organiser to send about 30 competitors on a 2.5km (1.5 mile) detour. At one stage, runners were approaching the finish line from three different directions.
BBC Glasgow (Steve Morley)
“We’re the wet bandits”
A bungling burglar has been jailed after he was caught out by a Home Alone-style bucket trap. The homeowners in Northumberland had set the snare after several recent reports of attempted break-ins in the local area. They had rigged up a string with their house at one end and a full bucket of water at the other and shortly before 3am, burglar Paul Howell, 56, fell prey to the trap. The overturned bucket led to the occupants checking their CCTV footage and days later they reported the incident to Northumbria police.
Sky News (Daragh Brady)
Knot your average crime
A post-box topper that was stolen from a street in East Yorkshire has been returned. Kevin Bacon, a knitted pig, was part of a display helping to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation. The knitting team had fitted the pig with a tracking device which had sent its location back from a street in Hull. After an appeal on social media, which asked for doorbell footage and CCTV, the pig was returned, anonymously.
Yorkshire Post (Amanda Welles)
[See also: The godfather of the Maga right]
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This article appears in the 26 Feb 2025 issue of the New Statesman, Britain in Trump’s World